After disembarking from our cruise ship my friends and I travel in the van admiring the beautiful German countryside. Passing into Czechia was so smooth we almost missed it. The driver barely slowed down as he went across the border.
At Cesky Krumlov, our driver let us off at the castle gardens. We wandered downhill through the gardens and eventually into the castle courtyards. Essentially, we found ourselves following the Rick Steves recommended tour backwards. The castle and views of the town were amazing. We felt like we had stepped back in time. After wandering through the free parts of the castle, we crossed the bear moat and entered the town. We had a delicious lunch at Tavern of Two Mary’s outside right next to the river, in a fascinating building dating to the eighteenth century. Thankfully my friends loaned me some money since they did not take credit cards, and I had no currency of any kind. They did take Cz crowns, Euros and even US dollars. I should have saved some Euros but had deliberately spent them in Passau. After lunch we wandered through the town, peeking into the church and out the town gate. I sent our driver a “pin” and he picked us up to continue to Prague.
Hotel Hastel was our hotel in Prague. Beautiful hotel, easy walking distance to the old town square, the river, close to the tram stop. We had a lovely view of a church from our window. The family-owned hotel has only 30 rooms and the desk clerks soon learned our names. They had special house-made liquor in our rooms and served wine and snacks every night in addition to breakfast. Public spaces included an outdoor terrace and a lounge with leather furniture.
The first night we got to see the astronomical clock chime and enjoyed dinner at Restaurant Mincovna. Early the next morning we met Jason for a living Prague Old town and Jewish quarter. There were seven people on this tour and Jason is very knowledgeable about history and the area. After lunch, we toured the returned to the Jewish quarter and toured the interiors of the Jewish museum synagogues and the cemetery. We walked across Charles Bridge. We bought a ticket and rode the elevator to the top of the clock tower. At the top, I offered to take a photo of a nicely dressed young couple through sign language since they didn’t speak English. Imagine my delight when he pulled out a ring box and proposed!! So much pressure to get the video.
We had dinner at Lokal.
On our last full day in Prague, we rode the tram to the Palace area. We had pre-purchased vouchers through Get Your Guide that included the palace complex and the Lobkowicz Palace. The vouchers had to be exchanged for tickets at Lobkowicz palace. Even with tickets we waited about 30 minutes to enter St. Vitus cathedral. All these sites are amazing. The old Royal Palace, including the crown jewels, was incredible. I almost skipped Golden Lane, since I mistakenly thought it was just tourist shops. It was my friend’s favorite part. There are armory exhibits and a collection of preserved homes and shops built into the castle walls. Then we toured the Lobkowicz Palace, and once again my expectations were exceeded. The family has recovered this property since 1990 after it was taken by the Nazis and the Communists. Their art collection with included family narrated audio guide was a wonderful experience. We had the Palace terrace with views of Prague for ourselves for a time.
That evening we ate at James Joyce Irish Pub and packed. Hotel Hastel arranged a driver to take us to the airport.